er learned
bodies. The choir was reserved for the Clergy, and the place assigned to
Her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses was slightly raised, made into a
kind of pew and covered with crimson cloth.

The Royal procession as it moved up the aisle included, besides the
members of the Royal family, such well known officials and members of
the Court as Major-General Lord Alfred Paget, Lieutenant-General Sir
John Cowell, Colonel H. F. Ponsonby, Major-General Sir T. M. Biddulph,
General Sir William Knollys, Rear-Admiral Lord Frederick Kerr, the
(late) Lord Methuen, General Lord Strathnairn, the Marquess of
Aylesbury, the Viscount Sydney, the Countess of Gainsborough, the Lady
Churchill, Lady Caroline Barrington, the Hon. Mrs. Grey, the Countess of
Morton and Lord Harris. Most of the great names and great personages of
England were present at this function. There were 200 Peers and
Peeresses; the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and fourteen Bishops;
nearly every member of the House of Commons. Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone
were there as were Mr. Disraeli and Viscountess Beaconsfield. Lord
Northbrook, Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Chichester Fortescue,
Mr. Goschen, and Lord Granville were visible. Throngs of ladies,
brilliant in blue and mauve and crimson satin and gems were present,
and, as the sun suddenly shone through what had been sullen clouds, the
spectacle within those parts of the Cathedral touched by the stream of
light was beautiful indeed. It shone upon the bright blue of many
dresses--the Royal colour of the day--mixed up in a confusion of
effective shadings with the dark blue and burnished gold of the
uniforms, the scarlet and white plumes of the officers, the gorgeous
robes of the Peers, the white lawn of the Bishops.

After walking up the aisle on the arm of the Prince of Wales, with the
Princess on the other side, Her Majesty took her place in the special
pew with the chief members of the Royal family on either side. After a
brief special service of thanksgiving the Archbishop of Canterbury
preached the sermon for the occasion in words of tact and eloquence from
which one quotation may be made: "Just as in one of our own homes when
death threatens, the whole history of the loved object we fear to lose
comes back in the hours of waiting, so England was stirred by a hundred
touching memories when danger threatened the Royal house. And God
doubtless thus touched our hearts to deepen our loyalty and make us
b